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{"id":383,"date":"2010-07-29T19:24:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T19:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/07\/spiritual-retreat\/"},"modified":"2010-07-29T19:24:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T19:24:00","slug":"spiritual-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/07\/spiritual-retreat.html","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Tomorrow I\u2019m off to the House of Danu Lughnasadh Gorsedd<\/a>. The retreat center at Pema Osel Ling<\/a> is beautiful \u2013 just spending a weekend there would be enough. But the main benefit I got when I went last year was three days away from everything: work, home, church, news, entertainment \u2013 everything that fills up most of my days. Instead, I spent three days with my fellow Druids, enjoying the community that comes from gathering with like-minded folks. I spent months afterwards talking about it, and I\u2019ve been looking forward to this year\u2019s version ever since it was announced. <\/span><\/p>\n

A couple years ago I took a one-day class in Buddhist meditation<\/a>. The class was good, but what I remember most was the recommendation for building a successful practice: daily personal practice, weekly group practice, quarterly mini-retreats (one-day or half-day classes) and annual full retreats. <\/span><\/p>\n

The teacher (Br. ChiSing<\/a>) was right. Solo practice is the foundation of successful spirituality, but it needs constant reinforcement. And there is no substitute for spiritual retreats. Group worship and practice and classes and such are nice and can be very helpful, but at least occasionally we need to get away from everything and spend whole days immersed in our faith, practice, and community.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I\u2019m headed to California again. As a full member of the Druid grade I\u2019ll be taking an even larger part than I did last year \u2013 I\u2019m looking forward to that too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have a \u201ctrip report\u201d and pictures when I get back next week.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"